As the sun rises in Vietnam today, Margaret Nduta Macharia’s fate hangs in the balance. The 37-year-old Kenyan, sentenced to death for drug trafficking, has spent the past few hours in uncertainty; either waiting for her execution or holding onto the slim hope that diplomatic efforts will secure her a last-minute reprieve.

For days, leaders, family members and activists have waged a desperate battle to halt her execution, even urging President William Ruto to intervene directly.

Diplomatic calls and emotional public appeals have all played out as the countdown to her execution reaches its final hours.

Nduta, a resident of Kiharu, Murang’a County, was sentenced to death in Vietnam after she was arrested in July 2023 at Ho Chi Minh City Airport with more than two kilograms of cocaine hidden in a suitcase. She claimed that she was unaware of the drugs, having been handed the bag by her agent.

With execution imminent, Kenyan officials have been scrambling to make contact with Vietnamese authorities amid intense public pleas and pressure.

Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei confirmed that Kenya had engaged Vietnam on the case, asking for a stay of execution.

“Had a telephone conversation this afternoon with my counterpart, H.E. Nguyen Minh Hang, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam over the matter of Margaret Nduta. I conveyed to Madam Hang the anxiety of the Kenyan people on the impending execution of our national and reiterated our request for a stay of execution to allow our two countries to find a path to resolving the issue. I am grateful for Madam Hang’s assurance that our Petition is under consideration by her Country’s authorities,” Sing’oei posted on X.

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He added that Kenya’s diplomatic mission in Bangkok, which oversees Vietnam, was actively following up on the case.

Senior Counsel Charles Kanjama, however, argues that Kenya has no legal entitlement to force repatriation. “The only way is diplomatic persuasion.”

The troubled Purity Wangari, thinking of the next move after her daughter Margaret Nduta Macharia was sentenced to death in Vietnam. [Boniface Gikandi, Standard]

“In diplomatic practice, you can place a request for your national arrested in a foreign country to be tried back in your country, but there’s no international law that compels any country to repatriate a convicted criminal. Therefore, Kenya can only explore diplomatic channels purely,” said Kanjama.

City lawyer Mathews Okoth agrees with Kanjama. “Diplomatically, Kenya can put a request before Vietnam on two grounds: that the person can get a fair hearing back home and also on grounds purely anchored in maintaining diplomatic relations between the two countries,” states Okoth.

Speaking to The Standard, Nduta’s twin sister, Rosemary Wambui, broke down as she narrated their ordeal.

“Nduta left Kenya in 2023, hoping to secure a domestic worker job in the Middle East. Before she travelled, she met with her agent at the TRM Mall in Nairobi. She travelled by bus to Ethiopia, where she stayed for about 10 days before her flight,” Wambui said.

According to her, Nduta was informed that her suitcase was too small and old, prompting her agent to buy her a new bag.

“The last time I spoke to her was when she landed in Qatar. She had a headache, and I advised her to take painkillers. That was the last conversation we ever had,” said Wambui.

Fast forward to March 2025. Wambui was shocked to learn from a friend last Friday that her sister had been arrested in Vietnam for drug trafficking and had been sentenced to death.

“I found out through social media last Friday. A friend called me, crying, saying she had seen my sister on social media,” she said.

Nduta’s mother, Purity Wangari, a single mother of four, said the situation had taken a toll on her health.

“My daughter went abroad to look for work. Now, she is being sentenced to death. We are pleading with the government to intervene and bring her home,” she said.

The news of Nduta’s sentencing has shaken the small village of Kariko in Weithaga, Murang’a. Alex Kimani, a neighbour, said drug traffickers had manipulated Nduta.

“We know our girl. She grew up in church. Someone must have taken advantage of her naivety,” Kimani said.

Paul Mbugua, also a neighbour, said the village had initially celebrated Nduta’s travel abroad, believing she had secured a better future.

Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka, in an open letter to President Ruto, urged him to seek clemency for Nduta.

“This distressing development calls for urgent diplomatic intervention to safeguard her fundamental rights and explore the possibility of clemency and repatriation. While acknowledging the sovereignty of the Vietnamese judicial system, the government of Kenya must intervene to ensure that Ms. Macharia’s life is preserved and that she is allowed to serve an appropriate sentence in her home country under Kenyan law,” the senator wrote.

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino also made an appeal to Ruto.

“We must not lose a Kenyan Mr President, please make a call to the Vietnam government and save Margaret Nduta from execution,” he said.

Vietnam is known for its zero-tolerance drug laws, and executions are swift once a suspect is found guilty. Anyone found with more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine faces a mandatory death sentence.

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Executions in Vietnam are carried out by lethal injection, which replaced the firing squad in 2011.

According to Vietnamese court documents, Nduta was arrested in July 2023 while transiting through Ho Chi Minh City en route to Laos.

She claimed she had been hired by a man known as John in Kenya, who paid her $1,300 (approximately Sh167,000) to deliver a suitcase. She was also expecting to pick up another package on her return trip.

Nduta cleared security checks at Bole International Airport (Ethiopia) and Hamad International Airport (Qatar) but was arrested in Vietnam.

Authorities said her suitcase had been modified with a false bottom, where the drugs were hidden.

Despite her insistence that she was unaware of the drugs, Vietnamese prosecutors argued that she must take responsibility for the crime.